XRP Price Rebounds 30% in 24 Hours Despite Legal Challenges

By Jason Nelson

December 2020 was a tough month for cryptocurrency XRP following the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs, the major force behind XRP.

The price, which was as high as $0.64 in mid-December plummetted to $0.20 in just a few weeks.

But the first week of January 2021 has seen the 4th-largest digital asset rebound 37% to a current price of $0.30. It’s moved 31% in the last 24 hours alone (as of this writing), according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Which doesn’t totally make sense. 

After all, since the SEC accused Ripple Labs of selling unlicensed securities (XRP) in December 2020, big exchanges like Coinbase have delisted XRP. Just yesterday Blockchain.com also halted XRP trading and major Ripple investor Tetragon Financial Group filed suit against the firm.

But, Quantum Economics founder Mati Greenspan told Decrypt, “XRP’s performance seems to be on par with the rest of the market.” 

While the list of exchanges suspending trading or delisting XRP has grown, the asset still has some support. As reported by Decrypt on January 6, a petition on WhiteHouse.gov asking the US federal government to deem XRP a currency has gained over 35,000 signatures (though it remains well below the 100,000 signature threshold needed to get an official response).

And even though US-based exchanges are distancing themselves from XRP, Asian markets appear to be largely unfazed by the SEC lawsuit. Denis Vinokourov, head of research at digital asset prime broker Bequant, told Decrypt, “It is worth considering that XRP is not seen as a security in Japan, and it may turn out that Ripple will look to settle and relocate to another jurisdiction.”

Indeed, Ripple execs Chris Larsen and Brad Garlinghouse, both named in the SEC suit, have recently floated the idea of putting the company’s headquarters abroad for regulatory reasons.

With the price moving back up off the floor, maybe it’s time to tap into the moving budget. Meanwhile, the SEC’s lawsuit is ongoing, with a pre-trial conference scheduled for February 22.

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